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Holy Trinity finally opens to public
Holy Trinity finally opens to publicMasses should be celebrated by mid-month, says pastor
By Dan Roem
droem@timespapers.com
Holy Trinity Catholic Church parishioners finally have a church in Gainesville to call their own after nearly three-and-a-half years of waiting.
However, it will be another week or two before they celebrate Sunday masses there.
Doors to the new building were opened to the public for a formal dedication and blessing ceremony last Saturday. Vehicles filled the parking lot an hour before the 11 a.m. start for the service that lasted until after 2 p.m.
According to the Rev. Francis J. Peffley, pastor of Holy Trinity, it was the beauty of the architecture, tabernacle and altar that caused jaws to drop among those walking the 120-foot aisle for the first time.
When brides-to-be came up to the pastor, “They would just walk in and ... they would even start crying, thinking how beautiful it would be to get married here,” Peffley said.
The Prince William County government allowed Saturday's dedication ceremony to take place at the church, which has a 1,200-person capacity, after granting Holy Trinity a temporary occupancy permit. Inspectors had yet to give their final approval for sewage-related issues.
Peffley said he suspected inspectors would give the final go-ahead in the next two weeks, meaning the church may start hosting masses by the middle of the month.
Holy Trinity parishioners have congregated at the Benedictine monastery in Bristow and at the Brentsville District High School gym in Nokesville for services and masses since the parish's inception in 2001.
Various shades of brown adorn virtually everything inside the new $10-12 million church hall, from the sand-colored tiles on the floor to chocolate-like streaks lining the ceiling.
While the choir performed in the balcony at the back of the church, speakers toward the front and along the wall made it seem like the choir aligned the entire building.
“It's really well-done,” said Remus Prokop, a 20-year-old alter server who worked at the Saturday ceremony.
The attention to detail particularly impressed the Haymarket resident who has served Holy Trinity for six years.
Though other churches have small bowls filled with holy water, which Catholics use to bless themselves, the Holy Trinity church features white sculptures of angels extending their arms to hold the water.
“That's pretty cool,” said Prokop, who repeatedly used the word “awesome” to describe various aspects of the church in front of him.
Prokop was not the only one lavishing praise on Peffley and the church. The pastor greeted Holy Trinity parishioners for about two hours after the blessing ended. For the first hour, he stood near the entrance as a line of people snaked past the doorway behind the back row of pews.
Time and again, parishioners congratulated him on his “hard work” and called the church everything from a European-style cathedral to a design worth “five stars.”
Arlington Diocese Bishop Paul Loverde, who led the dedication service, had nothing but praise for the pastor and church.
“He was very pleased, very impressed,” reported Peffley. “He gave me a big handshake and said, 'Job well done.'”
The location of Holy Trinity parish in Gainesville was originally intended to alleviate overcrowding at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas during the population boom earlier this decade.
As the parish and western Prince William County expanded, the need for an actual church building increased and ground was broken in September 2004.
Construction delays during the next 18 months hindered the project's completion.
Aside from the church hall itself, a library, unfinished basement, additional meeting rooms and a slew of other projects ended up pushing the price tag up to about $18 million, according to Peffley.
As of last summer, crews working on the building hoped to have it wrapped up in time for Christmas.
Those projections ultimately came up short, and, even on Saturday, red tape reading “Danger” was strung across bricks to the right of the entrance.
But like a good book, it was the inside that excited parishioners.
“It's been well worth the wait for the church to come,” said Prokop.
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